and fountains. That the grounds immediately
appertaining to the house were not intended as usual for the purposes
of a farm or kitchen-garden was evident. The reason became equally
apparent when, looking towards the north, where no wall bounded them,
I saw--over a gate in the middle of a dense hedge of flowering shrubs,
which, with a ditch beyond it, formed the limit of the park in that
direction--an extensive farm divided by the usual ditches into some
twenty-five or thirty distinct fields, and more than a square mile in
extent. This, as Eunane's native inquisitiveness and quickness had
already learnt, formed part of the estate attached to the mansion and
bestowed upon me by the Campta. It was admirably cultivated,
containing orchards, fields rich with various thriving crops, and
pastures grazed by the Unicorn and other of the domestic birds and
beasts kept to supply Martial tables with milk, eggs, and meat;
producing nearly every commodity to which the climate was suited, and,
as a very short observation assured me, capable of yielding a far
greater income than would suffice to sustain in luxury and splendour a
household larger than that enforced upon me. We walked in this
direction, my companion talking fluently enough when once I had set
her at ease, and seemingly free from the shyness and timidity which
Eveena had at first displayed. She paused when we reached a bridge
that spanned the ditch dividing the grounds from the farm, aware that,
save on special invitation, she might not, even in my company, go
beyond the former. I led her on, however, till soon after we had
crossed the ditch I saw a man approaching us. On this, I desired
Eunane to remain where she was, seating her at the foot of a fruit
tree in one of the orchard plots, and proceeded to meet the stranger.
After exchanging the usual salute, he came immediately to the point.

"I thought," he said, "that you would not care yourself to undertake
the cultivation of so extensive an estate. Indeed, the mere
superintendence would occupy the whole of one man's attention, and its
proper cultivation would be the work of six or eight. I have had some
little experience in agriculture, and determined to ask for this
charge."

"And who has recommended you?" I said. "Or have you any sort of
introduction or credentials to me?"

He made a sign which I immediately recognised. Caution, however, was
imposed by the law to which that sign appealed.

"You can read," I said